With almost two-thirds of the voters in Howard County (63.40%) having voted for Donald Trump, it is incumbent upon those of us in the minority to recognize an inconvenient fact because, although sometimes inconvenient, facts are facts.

Let’s get the big one out of the way.

Under the Constitution, a candidate who receives 270 votes in the Electoral College wins. Donald Trump did that; therefore, Donald Trump is the lawful 45th president of these fractured United States.

Period. The end.

“How” a candidate reaches that number is largely irrelevant. The voter is the ultimate arbiter of what input they choose to believe or disbelieve. Multiple factors influence a vote. In a troubling twist, it appears some of those factors may even originate from a foreign source bent on influencing the outcome, but again, the Constitution relies upon the voter to separate the wheat from the chaff. The voter’s right to make that determination should be respected, even if the wisdom of the outcome is open to question and debate.

The past is history, and history will make its own judgments in due time. What matters is the future.

There may, however, be a problem there upon which outgoing Vice President Joe Biden, in his inimical way, has put his finger: “Grow up, Donald. Grow up. Time to be an adult. You’re president. Show us what you have.”

Vice President Biden was highlighting another inconvenient fact: There is a difference between campaigning and governing, and the new president has yet to demonstrate that he has made that transition, or even if he is capable of doing so.

Presidents don’t engage in petulant Twitter outbursts every time someone says something they do not like. Grow some thicker skin. Criticism goes with the territory and, as they say, if you can’t stand the heat …

Speaking of Twitters, a tweet does not a policy make. It is unseemly watching surrogates bouncing around like grease on a hot griddle trying to explain – or explain away – the latest tempest stirred up in 140 characters or less.

The folks who put their faith in you, and the rest of us as well, deserve better. Americans deserve coherent policies expressed coherently. For the most part, they are still waiting.

There are those who will fulminate that it is unfair to be critical even before an inauguration. In most cases they would be right. However, this time around, the new president ignored precedent, chose to pretend to be president, and attempted to exercise the prerogatives of one, starting on Nov. 9, 2016, and not Jan. 20, 2017.

Those two months-plus count against any “honeymoon” to which a new president is entitled by virtue of victory. It can’t be both ways. It is more than enough time for first impressions to solidify into final judgments based upon what the new president says and does.

But to be fair, there are four more years to grow into the job, and do it well.

Or are there?

Because there is another inconvenient fact.

While millions of ordinary Americans believe in you, and in your promise to “Make America Great Again,” a goodly number of Republican congressmen and senators are not as sanguine. Remember, they were the subject of your “plain talk” almost as often as was your opponent. They didn’t appreciate it then, and they haven’t forgotten it now.

Slowly, and grudgingly, they came into line because you were seen as a means to an end. With the outpouring of enthusiastic support you engendered, by whatever means, you were seen by many Republicans in Congress to be the prophet who would lead their party to the White House.

And you did.

And they don’t need you anymore.

They have, in the person of the incoming vice president, a solid and reliable social conservative who is much more to their liking. Moreover, the incoming vice president has had his eye on the Oval Office for a goodly portion of his political career.

Are the following scenarios likely? No. Are they possible? Yes.

The underlying premise is that you have crossed swords with your erstwhile political “allies” once too often.

With your widespread business interests, and your unwillingness to fully divest yourself from them, you are one scandal away from a House investigation, and you know how the House loves investigations. Whether a “high crime or misdemeanor” has been committed is solely up to the House of Representatives to determine.

It only takes a majority of the House to impeach, and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict.

Hard numbers to come by, but not impossible, especially should the Democrat minority vote with their insurgent Republican colleagues.

Finally, should you ever get around to reading the Constitution as Mr. Kahn suggested, you might pay particular attention to the 25th Amendment, which provides an alternate provision for the removal of a president outside of the impeachment process.

Is any of this likely? Of course not. However, you are the president, and, as Uncle Joe said, it is time to be an adult and show America what you have.

William Shakespeare put the following words into the mouth of another embattled leader, Henry IV: “Uneasy the head that wears a crown.”

You are wearing the American equivalent.

Sleep well, my prince.